Archive for the 'My life' Category

My previous post talked about my latest hobby, Insteon-based home automation. My first purchase in this regard was a set of light switches that I wired into our home, as well as a controller called “SmartLinc” that facilitates control over my setup. Basically it is a small box that plugs into the wall and also […]

I found a new hobby last year that I’ve already sunk too much money into, but since the “cool factor” still persists for me and those around me, I figure that so far it must still be worth it! What is this new hobby? Home automation (aka domotics), and while it still seems to be […]

My Mars trip has overshadowed what I originally intended for my blog, although I’ve been grateful for what has resulted and the interest countless people have taken in space exploration (even the Earth-bound variety). Starting shortly, I’ll resume some ramblings about the many big and small ideas I tend to keep to myself, including my […]

Today I was on the CBC Radio One program On the Coast again for a follow-up interview on my visit to the Mars Desert Research Station last month. Click below to download the MP3! On the Coast interview #2(3.9MB; 10 minutes, 11 seconds) Elsewhere in my blog you’ll find emails I sent to middle schools, […]

Out of the almost three thousand photos and movies, I picked out the ones I think best sum up our Expedition Delta mission at the Mars Desert Research Station in February of 2008. Online photo galleries: My personal gallery124 photos with captions and comments Facebook gallery53 photos with captions; comments only if you’re on Facebook […]

I’m back from the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, and I had an awesome trip! You can look at my older bi-daily updates I wrote to a local middle school so you can see how things progressed. In the meantime, you can look here (crew 66) for our past daily reports, or have a […]

The following is last part of a series of five emails I sent to a local middle school during my visit to the Mars Desert Research Station as the crew geologist. Hello, Boy am I tired! Over the last few days I have done a lot of EVAs. Most of them are long too, usually […]

The following is part four of a series of five emails I sent to a local middle school during my visit to the Mars Desert Research Station as the crew geologist. Good morning! Lots of people enjoy a good breakfast in the morning, and that doesn’t change for astronauts. The problem is that it costs […]

The following is part three of a series of five emails I sent to a local middle school during my visit to the Mars Desert Research Station as the crew geologist. Hello! We have power back on now, and it looks like our power problems are a thing of the past. That can change quickly […]

The following is part two of a series of five emails I sent to a local middle school during my visit to the Mars Desert Research Station as the crew geologist. Hello again, What an amazing two days! If anything can go wrong, it definitely will. Engineers are incredibly important to have around on space […]